


You Were Never Mine

by DracoGranger4Ever



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Cheating, F/M, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Infidelity, Not Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:47:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27572554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DracoGranger4Ever/pseuds/DracoGranger4Ever
Summary: It was true that she had lost him, but he was never hers to lose to begin with.One-shot inspired by 'August' by Taylor Swift.
Relationships: Astoria Greengrass/Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 7
Kudos: 38





	You Were Never Mine

**Author's Note:**

> My first one-shot, inspired by the song 'August' from 'Folklore' by Taylor Swift.
> 
> Hope you like it! 
> 
> All Harry Potter references and characters belong to J. K. Rowling. Only this plot belongs to me.

Fall had always been her favourite time of the year. The nostalgia that the season brought always filled Hermione with a sense of romanticism, when she loved to cloak herself in the wistfulness of things past. It was especially well suited to her circumstances this year.

She loved to take a walk in her neighbourhood park in the evenings, when everything seemed to turn golden around her. But it was more than the beauty of the chestnuts and the oaks surrounding her. It seemed to her that it was the only time when she was in sync with her surroundings, when even the trees were melancholic in their reminiscence of happier times, yet exuded a sense of contentment in the pain of remembrance.

She never did anything by halves. Even her brooding needed to be done in a particular fashion. She fully intended to immerse herself in the mood of the season. So she came fully prepared with her Pumpkin Spiced Latte, buttery croissants and her Thomas Hardy novel. She had her own special spot as well, at the foot of a sycamore tree overlooking a pond, from where she got a perfect view of the people passing by on the other side of the pond. Perfect, because she had her privacy granted by the tree and distance afforded by the pond, separating her from the other park visitors, at the same time ensuring that she didn’t get sucked completely into the bliss of her loneliness.

She was reading the part where the roguish young man had set the trap to seduce the innocent town belle, when a huge flake of her croissant felt on her lap. She stopped reading to brush away the flake from her pant legs, and had momentarily chanced a glance at the other side of the pond, when her eyes fell on a young couple kissing each other while cuddled in each other’s arms.

And just like that reality hit her and the air around her grew piercing instead of numbing, the light seemed to be fading instead of soothing, and she was instantly gripped with a crippling sense of loss and hopelessness.

The man had brown hair instead of platinum blonde and the woman had red hair instead of strawberry blonde, she couldn’t even make out their faces properly from this distance leave alone hear what they were saying, yet she was convinced that the man was expressing his endless devotion to her with his kisses and promised her that no one could take her place in his life as he bent down to whisper in her ear.

It was too much for Hermione. The scene was awfully reminiscent of the last time she had seen _him_. When _he_ was begging _her_ for forgiveness, was pleading with _her_ to take _him_ back. And it had all happened with Hermione present to witness the moment when Draco Malfoy declared that she meant nothing to him, that she was just an ill-judged summer fling.

It had all started when Hermione started working at the Permits Division of Magical Law Enforcement. It was mostly boring paperwork, but that was the whole purpose behind assigning her to this role, as a punishment for making all the wrong noises and ruffling all the wrong feathers with her law proposals when she was in the Policy Division.

Malfoy had a thriving business, and so was often down at her office to get some permit or the other. Their interactions were always formal, not even friendly but just civil.

And as fate would have it, one day she was walking down a Muggle neighbourhood near her flat, when she heard a keening sound from a nearby deserted alley. She quickly gripped her wand in her pocket and reached the alley to find none other than Draco Malfoy bleeding out on the middle of the street. She quickly gathered that he had splinched himself while apparating, and as she approached him she realized that he was completely inebriated.

Just when she was about to side-along apparate him to St. Mungo’s, she heard voices behind her and saw that a few Muggles had also heard his painful cries and come to enquire. They offered to help her get him to the nearest hospital. Hermione didn’t think bringing Malfoy to a Muggle hospital would go well, so he told the Muggles that she was a doctor, and she would take him to her house and treat him herself. They begrudgingly agreed but insisted on accompanying them to her house.

By the time they reached her house, Malfoy had passed out and Hermione realized she might not have enough time to bring him to St. Mungo’s. Besides, she was plenty experienced in treating splinched wounds, and thought she would give him a preliminary treatment.

Once Hermione was done, she waited for Malfoy to wake up while she decided to have something to drink in order to soothe her frayed nerves. One drink led to too many and before Hermione knew it, she was quite drunk.

In her drunken state, she absentmindedly removed her jeans and jumper as she made her way to the bathroom in her bra and panties, as was her normal habit. Just as she reached the bathroom door, she heard a gasp from behind her. She turned around to find Malfoy sitting up on her couch and staring unblinkingly at her.

She rushed to his side, unmindful of her state of undress and started asking him questions. And then everything happened in a blur.

She didn’t know how it happened or who initiated it, but the next thing she knew, Malfoy was thrusting into her on her living room couch. She would later blame it on her drunken state and her loneliness, but frankly speaking, till this day she would not be able to tell anyone exactly what made her think that sleeping with her former-enemy-turned-client, who she knew was already in a committed relationship with Astoria Greengrass, was not the singular worst idea that she had ever had in her life.

She woke up the next morning and unsurprisingly found Malfoy had already left. His side of the bed had already gone cold, but still held a whiff of his perfume and his regret.

But what did surprise her was how he kept coming back for more. Yes, she Hermione Granger, was the other woman Draco Malfoy was cheating on his serious girlfriend of four years with, on a continuous basis.

In her office, in her flat, in a hotel room in Paris, even in an empty parking lot when he insisted that she take him on a ride in her car. She would’ve loved to say that it was a thrilling experience to do something so licentious in public but in hiding, but the truth was that it was the culmination of the poor decisions she had taken all summer, and it reflected the true nature of what she had reduced herself to. A guilty secret anyone would be thrilled to savour in private, but was in reality being sworn off of in plain sight.

And still it was not enough for her to rid herself of this bad habit that was Draco Malfoy. She never knew when it was that she started wishing for something more.

All of a sudden, she was waiting all day for his summons, and she would drop everything instantly and make herself available for him. Some days, he didn’t call at all. But that didn’t deter her from hoping again the next day, with renewed fervour . His rare compliments, even in their insincerity, kept a smile on her face all day. Her name seemed to come alive and wrap her in its full meaning only when it was uttered by him in the throes of passion. She started looking out for him in crowded places at all times, hoping she would be granted a glimpse of him accidentally and validate her belief that they had something magical and special which connected them and brought them together.

Of course, that never happened. At least not in the way that she had wanted. Whenever she saw him in public, it was almost always when he was with his girlfriend. Whenever Hermione saw them together, she had to admit that they made a beautiful couple, and the public loved them. Those were the times when she would finally face the truth that he was never his to keep. She was always on stolen time with him, and she would get her comeuppance for her sins sooner rather than later.

So imagine her surprise when one day Draco turned up at her flat looking bereft, and announced that Astoria had found out about his infidelity and had left him. Her heart couldn’t help that little leap of joy and that spark of hope.

She knew she was being selfish, especially when Draco looked so broken by the loss of his relationship, but she brushed her guilt aside and told herself that she would look after him as he mourned his lost relationship, and in time he would realize that he was in fact meant to be with Hermione all along, and all these moments in his life, including the painful ones, were designed to lead up to that inevitable conclusion.

He never brought up his break-up after that day. But she became that much less confident in her beliefs when months passed and his eyes continued to reflect his distress and pain over losing Astoria.

There was also the matter of neither Draco nor Astoria announcing to the public about their break-up, which suggested that both of them may still harbour some hope of reconciliation.

So Hermione decided she needed to take the initiative and talk to him about taking their relationship to the next level.

So here she was, on her way to Draco’s office, with a plan to ask him out on a date in mind and a firm resolve and warm hopefulness in her heart.

She noticed that his secretary’s desk was empty. So she proceeded to his office and as she neared it, she heard voices coming from inside.

She stopped in her tracks and was about to turn around and wait in the lobby, when something told her she should find out more.

She approached the closed office door quietly and listened in.

She immediately recognized Draco’s pleading voice, and to her horror, she heard Astoria’s angry response to his pleas.

“I don’t know if I can trust you anymore, Draco. After everything that I had to go through to be with you,” Astoria said in a shaky voice.

“I know Tori, and I can’t tell you how sorry I am. I wish I could go back in time and not gotten drunk that night. I was so frustrated, but I would have come back to you if I’d not been splinched. I swear Tori, nobody can hate me as much as I do for hurting you like that.”

“Frustrated? It was because of your parents that we fought that night. If anything, I should’ve gotten drunk that night. After all the shit I took from them for your sake, you have the gall to say that you were frustrated and ended up fucking some whore?”

Hermione stiffened at that, and without wanting to, she felt her anger rising. If she were even slightly less culpable in this situation, she would have stormed inside and hexed that bint to oblivion for calling her a whore. Like her boyfriend wasn’t an equal participant in it. Why isn’t her boyfriend the whore in this situation, because there was only one person who was sleeping more than one person and it was definitely not _her_.

But all her thoughts came to a standstill when she heard his next words.

“I swear Tori, it meant nothing. Just a drunken mistake that went way out of control. The only girl I ever want to be with is you. Why do you think I never made our break-up public? The same reason that you didn’t. I want us to get back together again. Please Tori, just give me one more chance. I promise you won’t regret it.”

Of course, Hermione had realistically not expected Draco to defend her when he was in the midst of trying to convince his girlfriend to take him back. Yes, she was still his girlfriend because apparently even though they were on a break, they had not broken up it seems.

But knowing all this didn’t make the dashing of her hopes and the breaking of her heart any less painful.

She had an insane urge to laugh out loud. Of course, all her life she’d be good and not be rewarded for it ever, yet one mistake and she would be sure to suffer the consequences to the extent that she ends up hating herself for ever believing she deserves anything good or happy in life.

The voices from inside had quieted down somewhat, but Hermione had stopped listening in any case. She decided to leave before her luck ran out and any insult is added to her already injured heart on this god-forsaken day.

So she took a deep breath and braced herself to remain together till she reached a safe place to let her emotions run free, and left the office.

She expected that Draco would send her an owl informing her about discontinuing their arrangement. After all, why would he deem a drunken mistake to be worthy enough to be informed of their dispensability in person? But at least that way she wouldn’t have to face him.

Evening came and she found Draco at her doorstep. Her face instantly broke into a smile, thinking that he had given false platitudes to Astoria and fully intended to continue seeing her.

But when he looked away from her and refused to meet her eyes, she finally saw the writing on the wall.

She decided she wouldn’t make it easy for him and pretended to be completely oblivious to the reason for his visit. She knew she was being petty. But she thought, what the heck, why not dish it out instead of being on the receiving end for a change.

She sat on an armchair and waited patiently, while Draco sat on another armchair facing her, and looked around the flat while clasping his hands together and resting his elbows on his thighs.

After a considerable time had passed, he finally seemed to be ready to say his piece and cleared his throat before beginning.

“Granger, I need to tell you something.” His voice was surprisingly firm. Impressive. She berated herself. “You see, Astoria and I have decided to get back together.” His eyes flicked to hers, trying to see her reaction. His eyes widened slightly in surprise when he saw absolutely no reaction from her. Just plain interest was visible on her face. He frowned slightly but then seemed to shake out of it and renewed his speech. “For obvious reasons, I cannot see you anymore.”

“Understandable.”

He frowned again and didn’t seem to know what to say next. Hermione decided that she should break the silence before it became awkward or she did something embarrassing like asking him not to leave her, telling him that she was willing to settle for whatever he wanted to offer her and that just a few hours ago she was about to ask him out on a broom ride together for their first date even though she loathed flying with all her being.

“I hope you are happy now. Honestly speaking, it was pretty depressing watching you mope over her all the time.” Her tone was matter-of-fact, like she was just relieved to be rid of a particularly pesky infestation of garden gnomes, and not like she had just been told that the cozy and comfortable blanket wrapping her soul with its warmth that was Draco Malfoy, was being taken away from her leaving her heart cold and vulnerable in its wake.

Draco didn’t reply immediately, just continued to scrutinize her as if she was one of his potions not reacting like he had expected, a curious conundrum.

Finally, he sighed and gave a small smile. “Yes, I am glad and honestly, relieved. I have felt so unmoored ever since she left me.”

Maybe Hermione had taken the nonchalance thing too far. She could only pretend so much. But if he started to wax poetic about his girlfriend in front of her while basically dumping her, she thought she would just lose it. The only worse thing that she could think of was if he thanks her for the sex.

“Thank you…”, he said. Hermione was about to throw up. “…for being there for me.”

She knew she had to end this before it went any further south. So, she took a deep breath and said, “That’s fine. Listen, if there isn’t anything else then I need to get back to work. I have a meeting tomorrow early in the morning -”

Draco instantly shot up to his feet, grabbing the opening she’d created to end this travesty. “Of course. Don’t let me keep you. All right then, see you at work.” Unlikely. She would make sure that she was never assigned to any of his cases. She needed a clean break and a complete detoxification of Draco Malfoy from her system and her life.

“Sure. Good night, then.”

“Good night.”

And just like that, he was gone. From her flat, from her life.

Hermione had thought that she would break down as soon as he left. But she realized that grief doesn’t work that way.

Anger, happiness, lust, jealousy – you name it. Every other emotion hits you immediately. But never grief, especially after such a profound occurrence. Mostly, she felt numb, but no veritable sadness.

Strange, she thought. Till she woke up the next day and it hit her all at once. She lay in bed as copious amounts of tears slid down her temples and landed in her hair or her pillow as she stared blankly at the ceiling.

She ended up not going to work and she refused to feel guilty or consider herself any less for it.

Yes, she had made a very poor decision with regards to how she handled her relationship. She behaved irresponsibly and had had a hand in hurting someone who had never caused her any harm.

But she would never apologize for trying to find happiness. Even though she had gone about it in the worst possible manner, yet she had put her heart out there unconditionally. She had committed to this relationship whole-heartedly from her end. She never cheated anyone, she never coerced anyone. He came to her on her own free will.

She was guilty in her complicity in his actions that led to hurting someone very badly.

But she was as badly hurt, if not more. Moreover, she came away from this whole thing empty-handed when she had committed herself wholly to him.

She decided that even though things didn’t turn out the way she wanted, she would never shy away from trying to find her own happiness. Only, this time she knew better than to indulge in any unsavoury behaviour in order to achieve that. No one deserves what happened to Astoria. No one deserves what happened to herself.

True to her resolve, Hermione made sure to not work on Draco’s cases from then on. She didn’t meet him in person even once since the night he ended things with her. And it was not coincidental, since Hermione actively avoided meeting him.

She stopped going to the magical parts of Britain, except the Ministry building. She even made sure to know when Draco was scheduled to arrive at her office, and put charms in place to avoid a face-to-face with him.

She knew it was not a viable option for the long term, but she knew she needed this at the moment. Once she got over this initial hurt and once she became confident enough to face him again, she would go back to normal. But now she would do everything possible to keep her sanity intact.

But that didn’t mean she could avoid seeing him altogether.

He seemed to be all over the papers after the reconciliation. Of course the papers didn’t know about the whole break-up and make-up saga. But Draco and Astoria seemed to go out of their way to paint the town red, and were photographed quite frequently.

In fact, Hermione wouldn’t be surprised to find that Draco and Astoria encouraged the papers to write about their relationship. In any case, the papers were going gaga over how this handsome couple was going from strength to strength, and that an engagement announcement is imminent sooner rather than later.

Hermione came out of her reverie as the couple got up to leave.

She sighed. Today’s Prophet carried a photo of Draco exiting a jewellery shop. And the shopkeeper had proudly informed the reporters that the Malfoy heir had indeed been looking at engagement rings, but he refused to confirm if the purchase had been made or not.

It had been two months since that fateful night. And she was not anywhere closer to getting over Draco now than she had been on that day. But she had thankfully managed to avoid meeting him thus far.

Now that Hermione thought about it, she realized that it may be possible that this success was not completely owed to _her_ efforts alone. Maybe Draco was avoiding her as well.

He wouldn’t want to give Astoria any reason to suspect him again. She wasn’t even sure if Astoria knew she was the one Draco was cheating on her with.

Hermione again lamented about what she had lost. For a while, she had thought that Draco might have also felt something for her. It was nothing overt, but just the way he regarded and held Hermione that exuded warmth and affection.

But of course those notions had been put to rest by the things he said to Astoria and his subsequent decision to leave Hermione at the drop of a hat.

It was getting dark and Hermione decided to leave. She put all the leftover croissants and her novel in her bag, and stood up with the empty coffee cup in her left hand and her handbag dangling from her left forearm. She brushed off the remaining flakes from her dress and walked up to the nearest dustbin to discard the coffee cup.

As she made her way out of the park, she caught many couples stealing private moments in nooks and corners around the park. She wrapped her arms around herself as the loneliness seeped into her heart and squeezed it painfully. The air picked up around her and she quickened her pace.

As she approached her flat, her steps faltered. A familiar figure stood outside her doorway, head bent and lost in thought. For a moment, Hermione thought she had conjured up the image after her incessant reminiscing all day.

She urged her feet to move forward, although they seemed to be robbed of all strength, which was channeled into keeping up the furious beating of her heart. When she reached her front door, the blonde-haired man seemed to come out of his reverie to acknowledge her presence.

When Hermione realized that this was no figment of her imagination, she found her mind go blank and she couldn’t come up with a single thought to make sense of the turn of events.

Thankfully, her visitor took over. “Er…Granger.” A quick clearing of the throat. “Umm…can we talk?”

_“I don’t know, really.”_ That was the instant reaction that she had, but she didn’t voice it aloud. She begged her brain to start functioning, and in the silence that ensued, Hermione noticed that Malfoy was not meeting her eyes. Suddenly, her mind went to the article in the Prophet. Maybe he had come to inform her that he was engaged. Wait, but that didn’t make any sense, right?

Giving up on coming up with any coherent thought about this surreal situation, she decided to just go with the flow.

She sighed and nodded. “Sure. Let’s talk inside.”

She led the way into her house and they sat in her living room in the exact position as they had last time he’d been here. Oh god, she DID NOT want to go there.

She noticed that he had taken off his coat. So, this was going to take at least some time. Her manners compelled her to offer him refreshments, although she did not want to prolong this tete-a-tete any longer than necessary. He declined.

Hermione looked at him expectantly, but he seemed to be transfixed on the floor. She decided she had no option but to wait this out, because she had absolutely no clue as to the reason for his visit. She took the opportunity to observe him.

As her eyes took in his visage hungrily, she felt a strange sense of fullness in her heart. Her features softened and her soul felt at peace as she took in the man who made her feel whole like no one else ever could. She wanted to reach out and lose herself in his warmth.

She suddenly felt as if she had taken him for granted when they were together and not loved him up as much as she would’ve liked to. She wished she could turn back time, so that she could kiss every inch of his body until every cell of his being was imbibed with her love for him. She would trace her name on every inch of his skin so that its essence remained for all eternity.

She’d thought she’d be angry and resentful the next time she saw him. But all that she felt at the moment was an overwhelming sense of adoration towards the man in front of her, so much so that it seemed to want to seep out of her.

She suddenly noticed his face forming into a frown and his lips moving. “- you crying, Granger?”

As soon as she processed his words, Hermione’s hands went to her cheeks and felt the wetness there. She knew she should be embarrassed to show such vulnerability in front of him, but she was too moved by the purity of her emotions, to ascribe any negative thought to them.

She just shook her head and looked down. “You wanted to talk?”

A few moments of silence passed before she heard him reply. “Granger, I’m sorry.” Before Hermione could ask what he was apologizing for, he continued in a rush. “For everything. For the way I treated you, made you feel anything less than the absolutely wonderful person that you are, made you feel unnecessarily guilty and complicit in the wrongs that _I_ had done, for hiding instead of flaunting such a brilliant gem like you, and most importantly, for lying to you.”

Even in her state of disbelief at such unexpected compliments, Hermione managed to frown at the last part. What did he lie to her about?

“But what I am definitely not sorry about, and will never be, are the moments that I spent with you. The way I went about it is something that I will always regret, but you Granger, I will always count _you_ as my biggest blessing.”

So, he had felt sorry about the way he had ended things with her abruptly. And so he wanted to start his new life after cleansing himself of all his previous regrets and misdeeds. Well, Hermione would not deny him that. Who knows, maybe she will get her own closure as well in the process.

“I understand, Draco. I don’t regret anything either, except of course, for hurting Astoria. But don’t beat yourself up too much over it. What’s done is done. All we can do is move forward from here on. Which reminds me, congratulations on your upcoming nuptials. I sincerely wish you nothing but the very best in life.”

Draco looked genuinely confused now. And that was when it hit her. They hadn’t made any official announcement yet, so he was not expecting her to congratulate him. Maybe he hadn’t even proposed yet. Gods, she was really getting ahead of herself in trying to show him that she bore him no ill will.

“What engagement are you talking about, Granger?” And then he seemed to recall something. “Are you talking about the rubbish that was printed in today’s Prophet? Granger, you know better than to trust that garbage.” His admonishment made her face flush and she looked away. He sighed, “Granger, I’m not engaged to Astoria and neither do I plan to do so. As a matter of fact, I broke up with her a few days back.”

Her head whipped around and Hermione gaped at him in disbelief.

He must’ve thought of something on seeing her reaction. He quickly rushed to add. “Don’t worry I’m not here to coerce you. I mean, I do hope you give me another chance, but I will never force you into anything.”

Hermione was sure she was missing something, and her mind and her heart were not particularly in any condition to suss out the meaning of his words at the moment. So she decided to ask him instead.

“Draco, I’m not sure I know what you are talking about. Can you speak more plainly?”

Draco looked at the ceiling and seemed to steel himself. Then he turned to her and said in a firm voice, firmer than anything he had said all evening.

“Hermione, I broke up with Astoria and I want to start dating you properly and openly if you will have me.”

This statement seemed to shock Hermione into regaining her mental faculties. “But why? Last time you told me you wanted to stop seeing me so that you could get back with Astoria. What changed suddenly that you want to date _me_ now instead of Astoria?”

Hermione knew she was being even more blunt than usual, but seriously, what the fuck!

Draco seemed taken aback by her bluntness, but seemed to understand her reaction as well and nodded his head.

“Your skepticism is valid, Hermione. But I never told you the whole truth. In fact, I’ve been lying to myself as well all this time.”

He leaned back in his chair and started speaking, and it looked as if he was talking to himself. “I had convinced myself for a long time that the only person I am supposed to end up with is Astoria. All those differences and disagreements we had, I had blamed it all on the obstacles our relationship faced especially from my parents. But the problem had always been with us. It wasn’t as if I’d never realized that, especially in those rare moments of honesty I allowed myself in my thoughts, but I’d dismiss them thinking I didn’t have anything worth giving this relationship up for. So I stayed and continued pretending.”

Then he lowered his head and looked right into her eyes. “And then you happened. Fuck, Granger, you blew my mind away from the very first time we were together. I really had no means of escaping you.” He chuckled at that but quickly sobered up. “I again convinced myself that this fling with you was preventing me from being happy with Astoria, and the guilt of betraying her didn’t help matters either. So I treated our relationship with the scorn that I’d convinced myself it deserved.”

His expression became forlorn again, similar to the one he wore constantly during the time he had broken up with Astoria. “When Astoria found out about us, I was consumed with extreme guilt and grief for hurting her. That was also the beginning of the end of my life as I’d envisioned it for such a long time. So I guess I took my time getting used to acknowledging the truth of my situation. But never once, and I swear on my magic when I say this, did I regret what we had. So, in spite of my torment over hurting one of the best persons I knew, I could not stay away from you.”

“And then, Astoria came back and I let myself be guilted into a relationship with her. Till this date, I’m not sure how it went from her propositioning me to give our relationship another chance, to me begging her to take me back. I again convinced myself that it was the natural end to my relationship with you, and that is how things were supposed to be all along. There was also the thing about my parents. And although they aren’t very fond of Astoria, she was still acceptable to them, what with being Pureblood and all.”

And there it was again - the bane of Hermione’s magical existence. The whole blood purity bullshit rears its ugly head again. Draco looked nervously at her then, probably expecting her to have something to say about it but she was too emotionally wrought at present to give _this_ matter any consideration. When Draco realized she had nothing to say, he continued his speech.

“I came to you that night to end things between us, but I didn’t realize how badly I wanted you to ask me to stay till you accepted our break-up without any question. I thought our relationship didn’t mean anything to you, and told myself that it was further proof that I was taking the correct decision.”

“I tried to put my whole heart into my relationship with Astoria this time around, I really did Hermione. But nothing worked. My heart had already got a taste of something far better and perfect, and it would not settle for anything less any more. So, irrespective of how you feel about me, I had to make an honest attempt with respect to you and this time, I was determined to go about it the right way.”

“The first thing I did was break up with Astoria. Then, I went and informed my parents about my decision, not only about breaking up with Astoria but also about courting you.” His eyes bore into her and he took a deep breath as if preparing for a headfirst dive. “Now all that remains is your consent.”

Draco moved forward in his seat and reached out to take Hermione’s hands in his. “So, my dearest Hermione, will you grant me the honour of dating you? If you agree, I promise to always treat you with the utmost respect and devotion that you deserve.”

Hermione was reeling under all the confessions. She knew it would take a really long time to parse everything that Draco had said. She was aware that she needed to ask a lot of questions and get a lot of clarifications before she arrived at a decision. But she really didn’t know where to begin. So, she started with the most recent thing that he said, and which had remained lingering near the edges of her mind.

“But what about your parents? What did they say? If they didn’t like Astoria, I can’t imagine what their reaction will be to you dating _me_.”

Draco smirked as if he knew this would be the first thing she asked. “Surprisingly, they didn’t say anything. Just took in my words. I would be lying if I said I knew what they are thinking, but it doesn’t really matter either. Even if they do oppose, this time I have complete conviction in my feelings. And if they threaten me with anything, I know that you are worth all of that and more.”

Hermione blushed at that. All those months they had been together and he had never shown any emotion towards her. Now all of a sudden, it was as if he had finally let go of all his bottled-up emotions, and Hermione wasn’t sure she knew how to handle that. But it was definitely not unpleasant, just something unfamiliar. She thought she could get used to it.

There was also the matter that their relationship had not started in the best way. Relationships which started with cheating couldn’t possibly have any great chance of success, right? And if he cheated on Astoria with her, how could she be sure that he wouldn’t cheat on her with someone else. After all, as they say, once a cheater always a cheater.

“Draco, how do I know you will be faithful? What if you change my mind about me like you did about Astoria?”

Draco looked hurt at that. But he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, he stared resolutely into her eyes.

“Are you saying that I’m never to be trusted and I don’t deserve any other relationship in my life because I cheated once? Hermione, the way I feel about you is nothing like how I felt about Astoria. I don’t have any proof to show for that. But there is one thing that I can do in order to convince you. I vow to always be honest in our relationship as long as it lasts, and I can take an unbreakable vow to that effect if that will help convince you. But you should know that it is not a vow to be taken lightly and I would never propose such a thing for just anyone I’m not absolutely sincere about.”

Hermione knew that it is never a good thing to start a new relationship on such a morbid note, so she decided to let that go.

It had been just a few minutes ago that she had been wondering how badly she wanted another chance with him. Of course, at that time, she never even dreamed that she would _actually_ get that chance. And that is why when presented with such an opportunity so unexpectedly, she was thrown off-kilter and wanted to make sure that she did not jump into any relationship with Draco without thinking it through properly, just because it was something that she wanted very badly.

Hermione suddenly felt her hands go cold and that is when she realized that Draco had been holding her hand all this time and now he had let go. Before she knew it, Draco had cupped her cheeks which forced him to leave his seat and kneel in front of her chair. He stroked her cheeks with his thumbs.

“Come on, baby. Don’t think so much. Listen to your heart. You know how good we are together. You know you want this.”

Hermione felt like she was floating. It felt so good to feel him again after such a long time. Her words were now coming out in a whisper. “Draco, I need some time to think.”

“Come on one date then. That will help you make an informed decision. Oh love, I’ve missed you so much.” Draco was now planting kisses along her neck and jaw.

Hermione knew she was losing her will to resist. Draco’s lips were so soft and hot against her skin. She felt herself move and then realized that she had closed her eyes in her blissful state. As she opened them, she found herself on Draco’s lap and one of his hands was fondling her breasts on top of her clothes, while his tongue was laving her ears, which was her most erogenous body part.

The effect was instantaneous. Her moans were torn out of her then. She was lost in her lust and in her man. Driven by a desperate urge, she grabbed one of his hands and pressed his palms against her cunt over her dress. He took the cue and started rubbing her cunt, while he brought his other hand, which was on her waist and keeping her upright, further up to curve around her sides and grab her breasts to fondle them alternately.

He kept on assaulting her ear with his tongue, and Hermione cried out in a keening voice. “Oh Draco, oh fuck.”

Something snapped in Draco then, and he moved his hand from her cunt to grab her chin and turn it towards him before crashing his lips on hers. He didn’t bother with shy and started off with obscenely sucking on her tongue, while he made moaning sounds to sound his appreciation.

Hermione was so turned on with the feel of his tongue and its wetness still lingering in her ear, and Draco’s lips suckling on her tongue like a lolly. She decided to join in as well, and immediately retrieved her tongue and used it to assault his tongue as well. As their tongues battled each other, they writhed around each other in a sexual dance.

Now both of their hands were in each other’s hair, trying to keep themselves steady and get as close to each other as possible.

Draco grabbed her hair with both hands and used his grip to pull her away a bit. “Tell me you’ll go out with me. Say yes, babe, or I swear I’m gonna lose my mind.” He crashed his lips again and gave a hard smooch. “You know you want to.” His hands had moved to rest on her butt cheeks, and he punctuated each work with a lick or a peck to her lips. “Come on, say yes, sweetheart,” he growled.

Hermione was flush with all the sexual energy flowing between them, and she thought she would have agreed to anything he said in that moment. His insistence, with his hands and his mouth and his deep voice, were all driving her crazy with need. She felt his want for her coming out of every breath of his and from every pore of his skin which fueled her own want.

A strong possessiveness came over her and her response poured out of her like the release she so desperately needed. “Yes, fuck yes, anything. Just…you’re mine. And don’t you dare forget that ever again.”

They were rudely interrupted when a crash sounded from somewhere in the room and they both turned to see a bowl clattering on the floor with Crookshanks standing next to it. But the half-kneazle was looking straight at them, as if telling them to get a grip on themselves.

The haze in Hermione’s mind cleared a bit, and she slowly extricated herself from Draco. She thanked her pet silently for stopping her in time, or she didn’t know how this would have ended. She definitely did not want to jump into bed with him right away. She realized she was in too deep to not go on that date with Draco, but she would be damned if she didn’t have more control of their relationship this time around.

She cleared her throat and stood a distance away from Draco to stop herself from jumping him.

Draco seemed to get the message. He stood up and straightened himself, but there was no hiding the bulge in his pants. Hermione internally licked her lips at that, and then caught herself before she spiraled again.

“So, I’ll owl you with the details.” Of course, she had given her consent under sexual duress, but that point was obviously moot for a Slytherin. “And I have something for you as a token of my appreciation for you.” Figures that he was confident in his abilities of persuasion.

Draco brought out a medium-sized box from his inner pocket and handed it to Hermione. With a surprised and suspicious look at Draco, she opened the box to find a diamond bracelet studded with rubies, nestled inside the box. So, that solved the mystery of the jewellery shop visit that was reported in the Prophet.

Hermione’s eyes literally popped out of her head at the opulence of the piece. She immediately thrust it towards Draco and cried out, “Draco, this is too much, I can’t take it.”

Draco put on a hurt expression. “Are you refusing to accept my gift of adoration, which I have painstakingly picked out just for you?”

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Enough with the theatrics, Malfoy. How can you expect me to accept such an extravagant gift before we’ve even had our first date.”

Hermione conveniently omitted the part where they’d been secretly seeing each other for months. That line of conversation could only go one way in this situation. Draco seemed to have similar thoughts.

He smirked at her and said, “After one successful round of persuasion tonight, I think I will take a chance on my luck and attempt to convince you again, if needed.”

Hermione cheeks grew hot at that. This man did not play fair. “Fine,” she bit out.

Draco gave her a satisfied grin. “Good. I’ll be on my way now, unless…”

“I’ll wait for your owl,” Hermione rushed to say.

Draco laughed at that. “Alright Granger, I’ll owl you soon. Goodbye love, and sleep well.” He gave a peck on her cheek and went to retrieve his coat. As he was about to open the front door, Hermione remembered something.

“Wait, Draco. Just one more thing.” Draco turned sideways and looked at her questioningly. “How did Astoria find out about us?”

Draco blushed at that. He looked equal parts guilty and embarrassed.

“She caught me wanking in the shower and calling out your name when I came.” Hermione was about to say that that was not sufficient for her to find out about them , when he continued. “She grew suspicious and further investigated to find a box where I kept certain things related to you.” At my raised eyebrow, he sighed and answered my unasked question. “Your photos, newspaper clippings, some other knick-knacks and well, your knickers.”

Hermione was spluttering in disbelief when he quickly said, “Look out for my owl”, and dashed out.

Hermione was left standing in the middle of her living room, shaking her head in wonderment at everything that had transpired and wondering exactly what she had gotten herself into.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> Well, what do you think? 
> 
> If you have taken the time to read my work, I thank you wholeheartedly. It means a lot to me, truly.
> 
> Any feedback and suggestions are welcome. I know I suck at angst, but any comment on how to improve my writing is always welcome. You can be as brutally honest as you want to be.
> 
> Lots of love and take care!


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